Publish your own Keepsake Pet Book

Now you can publish a photo keepsake book about your best friend with Pet Story!

Write a special story or make a breeder's portfolio, wildlife diary, animal memorial or much, much more. Simply layout your photos, drawings, stories and captions on the Design Pages included in the kit.

Use the markers we provide or your own stickers, stamps and scrapbook materials for an extra special touch. Most cropping techniques are allowed. Then send your pages to us using the postage paid envelope provided, or the book can be made entirely online using our Internet drawing, writing and digital photo placement tools.

In just weeks you'll receive back an archival quality, 7"x9", laser reproduced, professionally typeset, hard cover book. The standard book included in the kit price can be up to 15 pages long and include up to 300 of your very own words.

However, extra blank book pages are included in the kit giving you the option of adding book pages (up to 50) and additional typeset words. Extra books are available and make wonderful gifts. Pet Story is the perfect gift for an any animal loving family.

Pet Story now offers an Internet production option that incorporates online drawing tools that include backgrounds and stickers, photo downloading capability, allows for more words per page, a choice of font styles and colors and faster production times at no extra cost.

Spring is here - checkout these great Garden Books

Spring has sprung and it's time to pull out those cultivators and start beautifying your backyard.

There are a number of great books on the market that can minimize the work needed to create or reopen your water garden, start a vegetable garden or attract beautiful birds to your backyard. Study up and save time and money this year.

• Creating Your Water Garden Book
• Master Book of the Water Garden
• Animal Planet Set Up and Care of Garden Ponds Book
• Water Gardening Basics
• Water Gardening in Containers
• Hummingbirds of N.A. Bird Book - my favorite!
  Besides being objects of wonder, hummingbirds, says Sheri L. Williamson in the Peterson Field Guide: Hummingbirds of North America, are unique to the New World, range in size from the smallest warm-blooded animal (Cuba's Bee Hummingbird) to outsizing songbirds (South America's Giant Hummingbird), can fly backwards and side to side, and still defy category among ornithological types. The habits, habitats, migratory patterns, physical traits, diet, mating practices, where to find them in short, all the information that a good wildlife guide offers are the stuff of Williamson's book. Clear, engaging prose and 180 full color photographs make this a natural for birdwatchers everywhere.
  
  The book covers over 30 species of hummingbirds that regularly occur in the United States or have the potential for occurence as vagrants from Mexico. It is entirely a photographic guide which has both advantages and disadvantages from paintings or illustrations.
  

PriceThatTool.com Price Comparison Launches!

PriceThatTool comparison engine for Tools, Parts and Hardware launched this past week and although our book blog is not in the business of reviewing tool sites, there are some construction and tool related books on the site, so we thought it was worth mentioning. Scroll down to see a few examples including guides to Masonry, decks and carpentry.

Price that tool is different than many of the larger price comparison engines in that it's claim to fame is concentration in one vertical to create more accurate and encompassing results in the tool and hardware industry.

The problem with the larger comparison engines is that they are limited by the deep pockets that can afford to pay the PPC costs for listing. Some of the smaller online niche retailers actually have lower prices than the big guys. They operate on the lean-machine mentality. Keep costs down, slim the profits and keep your customers happy.

PricethatTool features little known tool retailers like http://www.farmgeneral.com/, Tool Barn and ToolsNow - but they also feature some of the big boys like Sears and NorthernTool.

Guide To Masonry and Concrete CH277117 by Creative Homeowner Press
Ultimate Guide To Masonry And Concrete Book Design - Build - Maintain

Ultimate Guide To Decks CH277170 by Creative Homeowner Press
Ultimate Guide To Decks Book Plan - Design - Build

Guide To Trim Carpentry CH277511 by Creative Homeowner Press
Ultimate Guide To Trim Carpentry Book Plan - Design - Install

Ultimate Guide To Plumbing CH278205 by Creative Homeowner Press
Ultimate Guide To Plumbing Book Complete Projects For The Home

Smart Guide Roofing Book CH287945 by Creative Homeowner Press
Smart Guide Roofing Step By Step Projects

Smart Guide Painting Book CH287952 by Creative Homeowner Press
Smart Guide Painting Step By Step Projects

Carol's Book Blog Launched on Blogspot

Last May Blogger announced that they were going to discontinue FTP publishing of blogs and unfortunately, we were publishing our blog through FTP to a 3rd party! ... so we migrated today to a brand-new Blogspot domain!

Welcome to our new blog (in the mean time .. we updated a few colors and added a few friends). We hope you like the new format.

Stay tuned for our next post which is going to outline a few new cool internet tools we found!

LifeLock - Something that even YOU may need

Why Lifelock?

Because getting your identity stolen and trying to fix this issue is not fun.

There are three major types of identity theft with 37 standard groups.

Financial Identity Theft
Financial identity theft most commonly occurs when the Social Security Number (SSN) and name is used to establish new lines of credit. The victim is left with a mess to clean up.

Criminal Identity Theft
Criminal identity theft typically occurs when a person “borrows” the information to get a Driver’s License (DL) or when caught in a criminal act.

Identity Cloning
Identity cloning is when the identity is fraudulently used for financial, criminal and governmental purposes.

LIFELOCK identity theft can help.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2007, identity theft complaints are broken down as follows:

• 23% - a credit card was opened in their name
• 18% - the thief established new telephone, cellular, or another service in their name
• 13% - a bank account was opened in their name, or unauthorized withdrawals had been made from their account
• 5% - the thief obtained a loan in their name
• 11% - the thief obtained a fraudulent document such as a driver’s license
  

Farewell to a fine Author-- Robert B. Parker passes on...

I just found out today that one of my favorite authors, Robert B. Parker, passed away last week. I discovered this as I ran through a book store to catch the elevator to get to the restroom. As the doors were closing, I quickly caught a glance at an end-cap that was featuring some of his novels. The sign on top of the end-cap said Robert Parker.....with something kind of small next to his name. My X- ray vision was not working at the time, so I decided to stop by on my way out. Considering I have read every single one of Robert B. Parker novels, I wasn't quite prepared for what the sign stated.

As I came back down the elevator, I went to the end cap and saw the sign. It simply stated "Robert B. Parker 1932-2010". My heart dropped. Never met the guy, but he was one of those authors who writes so well that his characters come to life and you feel like you know them. Spenser novels are still my favorite, but in the last few years, Mr. Parker created several new characters like Sunny Randal, Jesse Stone and the Old West characters Virgil Cole and Evert Hitch in the Appaloosa series.

My reason for going to this particular book store was to purchase a couple of children's books that I love. However, when I saw that Parker had passed, it took the breath out of me. I may be emotional, but when an avid reader loses one of their favorite authors, it truly stinks. This reminds me of when Lawrence Sanders passed and my beloved Archy McNally series stopped. Even though Vincet Lardo co-authored and tried to replicate Sanders description in the last few books of the McNally series, the Sanders style that captured my heart was gone.

I feel sad for the Parker family. It much have been fun having such an talented writer in the family. I would love to have met him, but somehow I feel I have through Spenser. I'm glad for the Internet interviews that I can hear, and the next few books that will be out. But in the long run, no one, or nothing can replace the space in my heart for Robert B. Parker and his superb stories.

Creating Your Water Garden Book - Step-by-Step Pond Building

Step-by-Step Pond Building

Add a waterscape to your backyard using this great book: Creating Your Water Garden as a guide.

This brief work offers information such as designing and installing your pond, as well as tips for stocking it with plants and animals. Pond mechanics are briefly discussed, and a troubleshooting section answers common pond questions.

The back pages of the book list common water garden plants, and the easy-to-read piece includes several photographs and illustrations to better demonstrate correct installation. Creating Your Water Garden is a perfect read for anyone thinking of building a waterscape.

The first section of this book looks at all the design aspects you need to consider, from siting a pond to selecting the most appropriate water feature for your garden. A unique aspect of the book is the way in which the author explores the thinking behind existing water gardens.

Whether you have a patio, small city courtyard, or a larger suburban plot, you will find the right water garden design for you. The second section contains all the practical information necessary to construct a garden pond or water feature, and features numerous step-by-step illustrations showing how to install them safely and efficiently.

Essential information is included on buying and selecting suitable plants to create the right setting for your pond or water feature.

Features: a number of different inspirational pond designs for gardens of all shapes and sizes; practical step-by-step advice on all aspects of constructing a garden pond or water feature in your garden; full color photographic glossaries of plants and fish; and troubleshooting sections on keeping fish healthy and plant maintenance.

Get Local in 2010 with Professional Business Listings

It's a New Year and we wanted to share a fresh new way to jump-start your small business:

Professional Local Business Listings Package

An affordable local business listing package, offered by The Michigan Business Directory in partnership with SmartFinds Internet Marketing, is allowing small businesses to reduce the cost of local online marketing. Internet based Local business listings are free through the major search engines and display in search results, as well as on mobile devices.

The additional benefits include adding coupons, offers, discounts, photos, videos while changing them anytime.

But navigating this new world of "Online Local" can be difficult and that is where the professionals at MBD (experts in online local) can affordably help.The benefits of "online local" to small business are incredible. "To be available to local prospects" right when the customer is looking for them ( around town with their mobile device) is a huge marketing advantage.

The ability to update your business offerings anytime gives you endless possibilities including (but not limited to) coupons, seasonal specials, clearances, the ability to push out the latest industry news and more.The Michigan Business Directory offers a low priced one-time fee of $395 to update your local business listing with their 15 year Internet expertise. This includes the six primary websites that include Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, Local.com and Yelp.

In 2010, no one can argue that the mobile device industry will grow exponentially. Not only the iPhone, but also Blackberry and Palm are coming to market with new products and mobile applications, mapping, GPS and even localized advertising solutions.

Now is the time to jump on the bandwagon and get your business "online local". This is not limited to Michigan businesses, any business in the United States can take advantage of this wealth of experience at this economical price.